1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a holster for handguns in which the handguns are held by the barrel or slide and the trigger guard.
2. Description of Related Art
Commercially available holsters of this type comprise a u-profile-shaped base part which is provided for receiving the underside of the barrel, and on this receiving part there is then a lowered receiving part, also u-shaped, which is engaged by the trigger guard; for holding the gun in the holster, a clamping device for the trigger guard is provided in the receiving part for the trigger guard With this embodiment, the clamping force needs to be set rather low because otherwise the forces required to take the gun out from the holster would lead to long time delays which is important in particular during competitions. In order to prevent the gun from falling out of the holster with such low clamping forces, a rigid plastic shackle is provided over the receiving part receiving the barrel, with this receiving part encompassing the barrel or slide. Such designs have the disadvantage that the holsters are only applicable to very specific guns, and in addition, due to the securing clip encompassing the barrel, the placement of targeting devices or muzzle brakes is not possible.
It is thus the object of the invention to create a holster of the type mentioned in the introduction which can be used universally and in which even guns with additional equipment such as targeting devices or muzzle brakes can quickly and safely be used.
According to the invention, this object is achieved in that a recess is provided for the trigger guard of the gun, into which a retention pin, gripping the trigger guard from behind, can be pushed in or pulled out from the side, with a cheek comprising magnets for attaching the slide of the gun being provided on the side of the recess. This insures that the retention pin provides safe retention of the gun in the holster. At the same time, the lateral cheek provided with magnets prevents any rotation of the gun around the retention pin. Since the holster supports the gun only on the bottom and on one side, it is possible to use the holster for various guns without any altercation, even if these guns are equipped with additional equipment such as targeting devices or muzzle brakes.
Preferably, the cheek comprising magnets is provided on a separate plate-shaped carrier which can be laterally attached to the base part comprising the recess. This has the advantage that the holster can be used both by left-handed or right-handed wearers, with only the cheek having to be fixed either to the left side or to the right side of the base part. In this, the base part itself is composed of at least three plate-shaped parts with the two exterior parts being longer than the middle part and exceeding the said middle part towards the handgun grip, thus forming the lateral cheeks for receiving the trigger guard. This provides, in a simple way, an easily adaptable base part by which the various distances between trigger guard and slide can be compensated for. Depending on the type of gun, it is only necessary to insert either a longer or shorter part in the middle. The individual components of the base part and the plate-shaped carrier for the lateral cheek can be fastened to each other by at least one screw bolt. This enables easy dismounting and adaptation of the individual components of the base part and the carrier. To provide an adaptable configuration with one and the same component of the base part, the receiving apertures for the screw bolts in the middle part and if necessary also in the exterior part pointing away from the carrier for the lateral cheek, can be configured as a slot or slots.
To ensure that the retention pin reliably grips the trigger guard of the gun from behind, the retention pin is spring loaded in the direction of pushing in. In this, the retention pin can be beveled towards the aperture of the recess. This facilitates insertion of the gun to the effect that the retention pin is pushed back by the trigger guard in the way of a spring-loaded catch and subsequently engages the catch behind the trigger guard. For easy pulling out of the retention pin from the recess, the retention pin at its end pointing away from the recess can comprise projecting parts distant across its longitudinal access, with the projecting parts being supported against the force of the spring by a fork-shaped piece which comprises wedge-shaped flanks, in which fork-shaped piece is moveable across the longitudinal axis on the retention pin. The retention pin is subsequently withdrawn from the aperture of the recess by sliding in the fork-shaped piece and sliding open the laterally distant projecting parts onto his wedge-shaped flanks, and when the fork-shaped piece is pulled back by the force of the spring, the retention pin is pushed in again. When inserting the gun into the holster, due to spring-loading, the retention pin can move freely without the fork-shaped piece having to be activated.
In a particularly simple way the fork-shaped piece can be guided in a recess in the plate-shaped carrier for the cheek comprising the magnets. The movable fork-shaped piece can also be used as a contact maker to insure that the retention pin has been entirely released in the sense of engaging the catch.
For controlled movement of the retention pin, for pushing in or pulling out the retention pin at its end pointing away from the end engaging the recess, a link-type guide can be provided. In this way, the movement of the retention pin is restrictably controlled, i.e. the pushing-in of the retention pin into the recess and thus the gripping from behind of the trigger guard must be actively undertaken. In this, when inserting the gun into the holster, the person carrying the gun notices whether or not retention of the gun by the retention pin takes place properly.
It is advantageous if, by the way of a link-type guide in the retention pin, at least one but preferably two notches are provided facing each other, whose cheeks aligned parallel to each other are aligned obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the retention pin, in the same direction; with these notches engaging obliquely aligned guide ways which point in the same direction, which guide ways are arranged at a slider adjustable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the retention pin. In this way, purely by moving the slider, control of engaging or disengaging the retention pin can be achieved in a simple way. Naturally, it would also be possible in kinematic reversal to provide the notch at the slider and the projecting part at the retention pin. To this purpose, the slider in the area comprising the guide ways can be fork-shaped with a detent for fixing the slider being provided between the tines of the fork. This insures that the retention pin engages properly because otherwise locking of the slider in the respective end position cannot occur.
For a particularly simple device, the detent can be formed by spring latches whose extremities comprise detent projections which click into recesses of the tines of a fork.
Finally, the spring latches can be arranged in a recess of that part of the holster which guides the slider and through which the retention pin passes. In this way proper mutual fixing can be achieved of the components effecting the fixing of the gun in the holster.
It has proven desirable to secure the gun in the holster in such a way that it cannot be removed from the holster by unauthorized persons. For this purpose, the retention pin gripping the trigger guard from behind, can be located down in its pushed-in position. This enables the owner of the gun to lock it down in the holster in such a way, that only after unlocking the retention pin is it possible to activate the means for withdrawing the retention pin. This also applies when the holster is worn on the body. This is to avoid the possibility of the gun being removed from the wearer by unauthorized persons, in a crowd or in similar situations.
Preferably a lock cylinder can be provided for locking down the retention pin; with the retention pin pushed in, the said lock cylinder locks down the said retention pin and/or its actuating mechanism. This makes for a very compact model which is simple to operate. On the lock cylinder, at the extremity facing the locking bolt, an actuating pin protruding away at the face can be eccentrically attached which interacts with a slot or similar, aligned transversely to the longitudinal axis of the locking bolt. It this way, by turning the lock cylinder, the locking bolt can be placed into a pushed-forward or a pulled back position by way of the retention pin, with the result that the retention pin is either locked or released.
In an embodiment in which the retention pin is forcibly moved to and fro by the activating organs, the lock cylinder can be provided in a slider comprising a link-type guide for pushing in or pulling out the retention pin, with the locking bolt resting against that part of the holster guiding the slider. In this way, the retention pin is fixed by way of the slider comprising the link-type guide.
With a different embodiment, the lock cylinder can be provided in the retention pin with the locking bolt being able to be pushed out of, or pulled into, the retention pin transversely to the longitudinal axis of the retention pin, and with the retention pin pushed in, rest against the interior side of the recess receiving the trigger guard of the gun. This makes for a very compact embodiment which does however have the disadvantage that due to little space being available, only a lock with few locking pins can be used.
Finally, the lock cylinder can form part of a shackle-type lock whose shackle, when the retention pin is pushed in, can be pushed and locked into a bore hole of the actuating slider which moves the retention pin by means of a link-type guide in the direction of its longitudinal axis. With this embodiment too, the retention pin is locked down by the actuating slider causing pushing in or pulling out of the retention pin, with this actuating slider also serving as a locking means.